


Last night on Earth(or any other planet for that matter)

by Swan_Song



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: 13th Doctor - Freeform, Dying Doctor, Gen, Ginger Doctor, No More Regenerations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 16:51:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7853248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swan_Song/pseuds/Swan_Song
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What will you do knowing you have one last night to live?<br/>The Doctor is old. Really old. Thirteen different faces, and five billion years.<br/>He saw the beginning of the universe, and its end too. He watched nations rise and fall, races extincted just to get recreated, better.<br/>He escaped death.<br/>But now Death started catching up. He could feel it in his bones. This will be his last night.<br/>So he decided to visit an old friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last night on Earth(or any other planet for that matter)

An alarm was heard throughout the Torchwood headquarters. Rift activity was unnaturally high, and not just a peak. It was as if the rift was completely opening. That's not what happened, of course, but that was the only explanation Gwen could think of.

"Jack! The rift is going mad!" She called, as Jack ran down the hall. He looked at the monitor for a moment. 

"Gwen, Ianto, whatever this is, it's big. Bigger than most things we dealt with. Watch out." He said as they all ran out into the car. Their alien detector pointed at a place nearby. When they got there, all they found was...

"A _phone booth_ _?!_ So much energy because of a phone booth from the fifties?" Gwen asked, confused. Both Jack and Ianto were tense.

"If it's the phone booth I think it is we're in big troubles." Jack said, stepping a little closer as out of the booth got a man. He looked in his thirties, but his eyes said he was much older. His hair was a true red, and he wore a simple black suit. He stopped when he saw the tree pointing their guns at him. He looked tired. 

"Jack... Please. You know I'm unarmed.' His voice was as tired as his eyed, as if he saw too much and lost too much and got tired of feeling. Jack hardened himself, not giving in to the misery in that voice. 

"So? You make enough damage with no weapon at all. Every time you come something is getting completely wrong. What is it this time, Doctor?" He asked, his voice sharp and eyes cold. He didn't want his friends hurt like last time. Though, he couldn't ignore how miserable and exhausted the Doctor seemed. He was still his friend too. He noticed he was the only one that still had his gun up. He took it down slowly. The Time Lord looked relieved. 

"You didn't age a day." He smiled, looking at his old friend. Jack couldn't help but smile. 

"Same goes for you. Finally got to be a ginger, what?" He couldn't stop a chuckle. The Doctor told him about how much he wanted to be ginger, and why. The Doctor chuckled too. 

"Finally. You lot won't shoot me if I get closer, will you?" He smiled at the two mildly confused Torchwood agents. 

"It's alright, guys. He's not a danger." Jack signed his friends that it's okay.

"So this is the famous Doctor he talked about? I thought he'll be more... Impressive." Ianto said. Gwen nodded. She thought the same thing. Meanwhile, Jack and the Doctor got closer and closer, untill they hugged. It was the hug of old friends, meeting each other after time too long to measure. It was also the hug of someone who ran for so long, finally getting to safety. To someone they can lean on. 

"I bet you missed her, didn't you? Come in, all of you." The Doctor smiled as they pulled back. He looked completely different, much younger and more excited.

"What are you waiting for? Get in and see what turned the alarm on like that." Jack said, signing his friends to join in. 

"I don't think the box is big enough." Ianto mentioned, careful. The Doctor laughed. 

"Oh, you'll see!" He said joyfully. He couldn't wait for new people, humans with their hearts beating in excitement and nervousness and shock to enter the TARDIS. She was excited as well, the old lady that accompanied him through space and time since he was 200 years old. He heard their excitement when they got in, the wide eyed shock when they ran in and out and in again.

"It's bigger on the inside!" Gwen called, surprised. 

"What is this place?" Ianto looked around, focusing on the controllers with fascination on his face. 

"Welcome to the TARDIS. It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. "Yes, she's bigger on the inside. And she's very excited to see you. It's been... Five million years since she met a new human, I think. You see, we traveled a long time alone." The Doctor sighed sadly. He was ancient. Human lives looked like moths near his. And yet... He loved them so much. They were so important, those short lives, a blaze of ideas and thoughts and loves and hates and  _life!_ so much life in such a short period of time.

"5 million years? Doctor... last time we met you were 908. How old are you now?" Jack asked quietly. The Doctor turned away from him. 

"Five billion." He mumbled. Ianto and Gwen were silent. They were shocked. No way this guy, who looked so young, was actually so old. Jack only nodded, looking at his friend with understanding and pity.

"Why are you here, Doctor?" He asked quietly, getting closer. The Doctor looked at his old friend, sad and tried. Then he said two words. Two words that seemed impossible, both to him and to Jack.

"I'm dying."

Silence fell in the TARDIS. All was quiet but the TARDIS herself, that made a sad sound, like steady heartbeats on a monitor. The Doctor, protector of humanity, earth and the universe itself, just admitted his coming death.

"But... Doctor, this can't be true. I mean, you can regenerate!" Jack insisted. One of the little comforts he had in his immortality was that the Doctor will be there. That when he needs him, the Doctor will come and answer him. That even if he fails, the Doctor will be there to make things right. But the Doctor only shook his head. 

"Every Time Lord is given a limited number of regenerations. This is my last one, and its time is almost up. I just wanted to... See you again. Apologize. And ask you to have this." He pulled something out of his pocket. The object was round, not very big, and had weird circles carved into it. Jack realized it's a language. The Doctor's language.

"What is it?" He asked, getting closer to take it. The Doctor gave it to him, his hand shivering a little. 

"This is my confession dial. It's... Well, it's sort of my will. I wanted you to have it. And ask you, and your friends, if they agree, to join me in one last adventure. I think you would enjoy it." He smiled at Gwen and Ianto as well, and to them, it seemed as if the Doctor didn't make such a big deal of his death. Only Jack, knowing the Doctor and standing very close to him, could see the sadness in his eyes. He could almost hear him say  _I don't want to go._  

"I'm all for an adventure. What about you?" Jack acted exactly like the doctor pretended to, turning to his friends. They both agreed, not wanting to leave Jack to face the death of someone he loved alone. They could see the Doctor's face change as soon as they agreed. A smiled stretched on his face, and he seemed much more young and lively. 

"Well, where do we go? I can take you to every place and time, except New York 1938. But then again, it wasn't a very interesting year. Landed on a Sunday. Sundays are boring. Anyway, what about Barcelona? Not the city, the planet. It will be lovely in 3045. What do you say?" He laughed, running around the controllers. He noticed Jack held into one of the chairs, ready for the TARDIS to start tossing around like it used to.

"Oh, don't worry. She won't throw you around anymore." The Doctor smiled sadly, thinking about River. Ianto and Gwen were extremely confused. 

"But, how are we going to-" Gwen started, when the TARDIS made a weird noise.

"And we're here!" The Doctor smiled, gesturing at the doors. Jack looked at Ianto and Gwen. It was obvious that the Doctor wanted to talk to Jack alone. 

"Go get dressed. In the dressing room, there's a chest labeled Barcelona. You'll find clothes for you there. Got to mingle with the locals. First turn left, second right, three turns later left, then immediately right again, and you're there." Jack said, smiling. 

"And what about you two?" Gwen asked, eyeing their clothes. 

"These fit everywhere." They said at the same time, laughing. Gwen led a very defeated Ianto out of there. When they were on their way into the TARDIS, Jack could hear Ianto ask 'Do you think they were together?' The Doctor smiled at Jack, who looked miserable. 

"I always thought I'll go before you. Die one time more than I could. Just... Run out of luck. And you'll go on, saving the world. Who's gonna save this world now, Doctor?" Jack asked. He seemed vulnerable, in a way he didn't usually allow himself to be. 

"You. Jack, you and your brilliant friends, you can save the world without me. Truly, you're doing a better job than me." The Doctor sat next to him. 

"How do you do it? How do you deal with losing people all the time?" Jack asked, his eyes tired and full of pain the Doctor understood very well.

"You honor their memory. You live the best life you can, because this is what they wanted for you." He said gently, laying a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"For all eternity?! Doctor, how?" He asked desperately, begging for an answer. His eyes were in almost physical pain.

"I promise it won't be forever. And I promise you that when it does end, I'll be there. I promise I will." The Doctor said, and then stood up, the happy mask on, when Gwen and Ianto came back. He looked back at Jack, then led everyone out.

They all had a nice day, forgetting from their problems. Jack and Ianto retired to travel alone, after Jack promised that yes, he knows the way, and no, they won't eat anything weird. Gwen, on the other hand, kept following the Doctor, Asking him questions. He missed this feeling, the wide eyed wonder in the eyes of those humans who never stepped outside of their tiny planet, those questions, so many  _why_ and  _how_ it made his head buzz. And he loved sharing what he knew. Not because he was showing off like so many thought, but because he truly wanted to give it to them. To give them the secrets of the universe, and watch them take those secrets in slowly. He used to live for that. For that moment when his companion came to him and asked. 

Eventually, they had to go back. The Doctor didn't admit it, of course, but the pain he felt started growing worse. Jack and Ianto already waited for them there, smiling and kissing and happy. And the old Time Lord was happy for them too. 

"And now you come to our home. Which is ironic, since it was built against you. But still." Jack smiled, working on the controllers with the Doctor so he doesn't have to run around. They landed outside of Torchwood 3 headquarters, and got in. The Doctor was excited, looking around at all the stuff and naming a few artifacts they had no idea what their use for (Owen was right about the singularity scalpel though. It was a medical tool). After a while, Jack came to the Doctor. 

"You have a lot to tell me. How about we go somewhere else?" He asked, not as suggestive as he would any other time. The Doctor nodded gratefully, walking with Jack to his office. And as they sat together, the Doctor started telling a story. The story of a very lonely boy, who grew up to save his world, and so many others. He told him the story of every human he traveled with. He reminded him of the fantastic Rose Tyler and the magnificent Jack Harkness and the bright Martha Jones and the brilliant Donna Noble. He then told him the story of Amy who never gave up waiting and Rory the Roman who waited even more and River Song that lived their relationship backwards(or forwards? no one could tell) and the impossible Clara and so many more, dozens of them scattered through time. And he spoke until he couldn't anymore, until his throat hurt and both his hearts felt like exploding and all the while jack didn't notice the dial turning in his pocket, collecting the things his old friend confessed to him. The Doctor breath heavily when he finished, not even realizing tears were streaming down his face. 

"And after all that, I die of radiation poisoning. Radiation!" He chuckled, both him and Jack bursting into laughter, because it was better than crying. He clutched his chest, as his hearts started failing, and Jack helped him lie down.

"Remember what I said... Live on." The old Time Lord coughed, forcing the words out. Jack had to remember.

"Please don't go... Take my energy. I have enough of it. Regenerate." Jack almost begged, holding the Doctor's hand. The latter only chuckled, which caused another coughing fit.

"Jack... After all this... Just tell me. Was my promise in vain? Did I do good?" He whispered, and Jack couldn't keep the tears inside. 

"Of course. Of course you kept your promise. You did good." He promised, crying as the green eyes in front of him lost their sparkle, and the body went still. He stayed there silently until Ianto came to check on him. 

It was a week later, when Ianto pulled Jack to sit down with him. The immortal slept in Ianto's house, refusing to sleep on the bed his best friend died in.

"Jack, it's eating you alive. Just... I know it's hard, but I ask you to tell me." Ianto said, as Jack was lying, head in his lap. He thought about it for a while, wanting nothing more than to just stop Ianto. He will stop if only Jack asked him to. But he didn't want the Doctor to be forgotten. He knew some day in the future, the Doctor will be no more than a myth, a story you tell kids before they go to sleep. In some places, he will be remembered as a hero, someone who came unarmed and peaceful, bringing hope with the sound of his blue box. Other will remember him as a vengeful angel, storming from the sky with righteous wrath to destroy evil. Some will see him as a villain, someone who charged at them for no reason, defeating them. Crushing them. But there will be some people... Some people will remember him as a loving, caring person. Someone who stays stable when everything falls apart. A safe haven. They will remember how he acted silly and talked weird and smiled like everything excites him. But they were few, and he wanted them to be more. He decided.

"It all started in Gallifrey..."

 


End file.
